Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar receives memento from Education Minister P.K.Shahi at Tarang 2014 at Gandhi Maidan in Patna. Photo: Ranjeet Kumar
CM Nitish Kumar was speaking at an event titled ‘Tarang’ at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan
In order to boost education for girls and retain them in higher classes, the Bihar government is planning to distribute free sanitary napkins in State-run schools, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced in Patna on Thursday.
“Free sanitary napkins will be given in secondary and higher secondary schools every month to every girl student. The government has earmarked around Rs.32 crore annually for this scheme. To foster cleanliness, the scheme will also include provision of dustbins for disposal of napkins,” Mr. Kumar said.
The government is hoping to roll out the scheme by April, when the next academic year begins. “The estimated cost is around Rs.100 per girl in one year. We are planning to tie up with local SHGs for manufacturing of sanitary napkins since the technology is now available. The scheme will cover girls from class seven till class 12,” Amarjit Sinha, principle secretary, Education, told The Hindu.
Martial arts
Mr. Kumar was speaking at an event titled ‘Tarang’ at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan, where as per the government’s estimate, nearly 10,000 girls from government schools, under the age of 14, demonstrated their skill in judo and karate. On Thursday, he called for expansion of martial arts training in high schools to under-17-year-old girl students as well.
“Such martial arts demonstrations should be organised in every district, so that people can see and become aware. It will also send out a message of women’s empowerment to those who think they can get away with harassing women.” Mr. Kumar said Bihar had taken great strides in improving the enrolment of children, both boys and girls, in schools. With a reduced percentage of out-of-school children, it was time to focus on quality of education and encouraging children to pursue higher education.
“The percentage of out-of-school children has reduced from 12.5 to two. We have laid emphasis on girls’ education. We saw that the enrolment of girls in primary school was nearly equal to the enrolment of boys, but from secondary school onwards the drop-out rate of girls was high. Owing to poverty, they did not have proper clothes to wear and lacked access to basic facilities. To address this issue, the government started the uniforms scheme and the cycle scheme, which has particularly been effective in bringing girls to schools. In the last five to six years, the number of girls in class nine has jumped from 1.7 lakh to over 7 lakh,” Mr. Kumar said. Various education schemes have been extended to cover girls and boys over time.
Mr. Kumar said the government has now decided to set up one higher secondary school in every panchayat to facilitate education for students till class 12. “This year, we plan to set up 1,750 higher secondary schools. Tenders have been invited for building of 1,541 schools and work has begun on 550 school buildings,” he said.